Lily Ashby
Lily Winters Ashby (formerly Romalotti) is a fictional character, a resident of Genoa City in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Starting off as a rebellious yet naive teenager, the character has become one of daytime's favorite women.The character made up one half of two popular pairings. One was a young love story with Daniel Romalotti, and the other was a more mature relationship with Cane Ashby. Khalil received Daytime Emmy nominations for the role in 2004 and 2006. She also won an NAACP Award for the part in 2008.The portrayal of Lily also earned Khalil to be named one of the top five actresses in soap operas for the year of 2008 in Soap Opera Update. Christel Khalil portrayed the character from 2002 to September 2, 2005. Her departure forced the writers to change her storyline, while they looked for a recast. Several months later, Davetta Sherwood took the role. She played the role in 2006 before being replaced by Khalil. Casting Background In August 2002, The Young and the Restless cast Christel Khalil in the role of Lily Winters.The actress left the show in 2005 after garnering two nominations for Outstanding Younger Actress for the 2004 and 2006 Daytime Emmy Awards.The show attempted to convince Khalil to return, but when that failed, they recast the role in 2006 with Davetta Sherwood."We are the same Lily, but Khalil and I are not the same actress, so it's going to be a little different," Sherwood said.Though she was replacing a popular actress, she felt no anxiety over it because Khalil chose to vacate the role. In September 2006, The Young and the Restlesss former executive producer and head writer, Lynn Marie Latham, fired Sherwood and replaced her with Khalil. "Christel is a brilliant actress," Latham said. "We're thrilled to have her as part of the Y&R family again...Davetta did a fine job, but shows generally prefer to have original players back when they can get them." On her MySpace page, Sherwood expressed her shock at receiving no explanation for her dismissal, but said she felt it coming after sensing a "lack of love flowing in the studio." The Young and the Restless news: Sherwood Speaks Out on Y&R Firing (October 22, 2006). Both actresses received NAACP Award nominations for Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 2007. The next year, Khalil won the award and then gained another nomination in 2009. Portrayal Lily Winters was created in 1995 as the daughter of Drucilla Winters. The story surrounding her birth was the question of her paternity with brothers Neil and Malcolm Winters as potential candidates for her father. The story continued on unresolved for years with Neil believing he fathered her. Lily was written out of the series as the character and her mother moved to Europe. In 2002, the writers reintroduced her into the storylines as a 14-year old girl portrayed by Christel Khalil. The character was designed as an "angst-ridden" heroine who continually struggled with "trauma". She was also described as strong and rebellious. One of the first plots she was written into centered around the character being manipulated by internet predator Kevin Fisher who gave her a sexually transmitted disease. The storyline was one of Khalil's favorites. "How many soaps have really covered that? The meeting on the Internet, getting an STD, it was really great stuff," she said. Lily was next involved in a Romeo and Juliet-style romance with Daniel Romalotti.Khalil's departure from the series halted the story until Sherwood took over the role. Though Lily was always written and portrayed as feisty, Sherwood brought an added fire to the part. "I was cast, I was told, because of my fire, but I was supposed to use my fire only when necessary," she said. Lily's "a lot like her mother. It makes sense. She spent a lot of time with her mother growing up and she's seen how her mother reacts to certain situations when there is a problem or a dilemma." In 2006, The Young and the Restless ''former head writer and executive producer Jack Smith decided to resolve the story of Lily's true paternity by revealing that Malcolm, not Neil, fathered Lily. Well, if you think about it as a storyteller the potential for interesting drama is much more interesting if Malcolm is the biological father and not Neil. If Neil was the biological father, the whole sub textual romantic potential between Drucilla and Malcolm fades away. The relationship between Lily and Malcolm becomes your normal, traditional uncle/niece relationship. The relationship between Neil and Lily becomes your typical father/daughter relationship. But if Malcolm is the biological father then, wow! You've got the potential for years to come for fireworks. The reveal was used as conflict for the already strained relationship between Lily and Drucilla. That conflict added with Drucilla and Neil's disapproval of Lily's relationship with Daniel served as the catalyst for a plot twist in Lily and Daniel's love story that involved an underage marriage between the characters. By the time Khalil reclaimed the role, Lily changed a great deal since she last portrayed her. "The character of Lily was written very immaturely when I left," she said. "I came back and Lily is being married and living with her husband. It is more fun to be more mature but it is definitely different." Lily's next storyline centered on a controversial romance with Cane and a career in modeling.The couple was designed as star-crossed true loves. The story with Lily and Cane focused on the age gap between the characters. Lily was younger than Cane. The relationship was used to add further growth to Lily's character. "She's been in kind of an immature relationship," Khalil said. "I think that being with a real man does make Lily grow up and start thinking about her life and situation in a different way. I think it will change Lily for the better." Stumbling blocks written into the relationship were the disapproval from Lily's family, a failed pregnancy, and interlopers, Chloe Mitchell and Billy Abbott. Billy and Chloe were used to keep Lily and Cane apart for months with a story about the paternity of Chloe's baby. Once the truth comes out that Cane did not father her baby and that Chloe and Billy lied about it, Lily reunites with Cane. Khalil thought it was funny how quickly the couple reunited after the reveal compared to how much time the writers took to break them up. In an interview with ''Soap Opera Digest, she expressed how happy she was about the evolution of her character. "I like that she's getting more adult storylines, that she's had to deal with things like losing a baby or breaking off her engagement Cane," she said. The magazine remarked that Khalil's role on the series had transitioned from a "teen star" into a "leading lady." Biography Lily returns to Genoa City as a troubled 14-year old in 2002. Her mother, Drucilla Winters took her away from Paris because Lily had gotten in trouble with her friends spreading graffiti art around the city. Dru hopes Lily's father Neil Winters will help reign her in, but instead it is they who help him with his own problems with alcoholism. Dru and Neil fall back in love and plan to marry, much to Lily's chagrin. She wants her mother with Wesley Carter. Over time she comes to terms with her parents' relationship. In 2004, Lily becomes the victim of the 25-year old online predator Kevin Fisher, who statutorily rapes her and infects her with chlamydia, an STD. He gets away with the crime because of lack of evidence. Lily eventually forgives him when he rescues her from a man who drugs and attempts to rape her that same year. Unbeknownst to Lily, the drugging is a setup orchestrated by Daniel Romalotti and Kevin in an attempt to make Kevin look like a hero. In 2005, Lily begins a relationship with Daniel. Daniel and Lily's storylines include a Romeo and Juliet inspired on-the-run story and teenage marriage. Lily finds out that her biological father is not Neil, but rather Neil's brother Malcolm. As the truth comes out, Lily's relationship with her mother becomes strained. They reconcile before Dru is presumed dead after falling off a cliff along with Sharon Newman during an argument with Daniel's mother Phyllis Summers. Lily discovers that Daniel is keeping his addiction to pornography from her. The couple undergoes counseling but ultimately end their marriage. A mutual attraction develops between Lily and the recently divorced Cane Ashby. Before they become an official couple, the difference in their ages becomes an obstacle for them. She is twenty and he is thirty-one. They fight their feelings before ultimately giving in and starting a romantic relationship with each other, of which Neil disapproves. Lily wins the Fresh Faces of Jabot contest and becomes an exclusive model for Jabot Cosmetics, owned by Cane's family, the Chancellors. She does photoshoots and undergoes constant criticism from Chloe, Lily's modeling mentor. Chloe encourages Lily to lose weight. Lily realizes she is pregnant with Cane's baby. He proposes marriage to her, but she declines. Lily miscarries the baby and blames herself for the loss. Chloe flirts with Cane behind Lily's back. After Chloe realizes she is pregnant, she decides to trick Cane into thinking he fathered her baby by taking advantage of him after he passes out. A paternity test comes back showing that Cane cannot be ruled out as the father. Lily convinces Cane to marry Chloe for the baby's sake. Cane's half brother, Billy Abbott, returns to Genoa City and realizes he is the father of Chloe's baby. He keeps the secret to himself and romantically pursues Lily. She starts dating him despite her initial misgivings over becoming involved with him because he is Cane's brother and the uncle of her best friend Colleen. They engage in sex for the first time in his office at Jabot. Afterward, they agree to take the relationship slowly. Cane and Chloe become jealous of Lily and Billy's relationship. When they find out they are spending Valentine's Day together in the mountains, Cane and Chloe, separately, go up to the cabin where they are staying. Just as Chloe arrives, Billy confesses to Lily that he is the father of Chloe's baby. Chloe goes into labor and gives birth in the cabin. After Cane discovers the truth about the baby's paternity he pursues custody of the child. Lily disagrees with his choice and refuses to marry him because of it. Cane later changes his mind and proposes to Lily again. She accepts and they marry. Shortly after marriage, Cane and Lily decide to start a family. They break up after Lily finds out he lied about being Jill Foster Abbott's son and pretended to believe he fathered Chloe's baby in order to continue with the ruse. Lily is later diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She has a hysterectomy to remove the cancer, but the doctor is able to harvest two of her eggs. Lily reunites with Cane while continuing with cancer treatment. Lily decides that she wants kids and her friend, Mackenzie Browning, offers to carry it. Mac ends up carrying twins, a boy and a girl. However, the babies could end up growing up without parents, as Lily was dying and Cane was going to be deported. Dr. Olivia Winters, Lily's aunt, thought of a way to save Lily's life: take the amniallic fluid from the babies and use the stem cells from it to make Lily stronger for chemo. Lily refused to do this because it may have endangered the babies. She went to Paris to try a different treatment, but it didn't work. Cane decided to sue Mac for the fluid. Lily shows up for the trial and testifes and Cane drops the case. It appears that Lily will die, when Mac goes into early labor. She gives birth to two tiny but healthy babies that Lily and Cane name Charles and Matilda Ashby. The stem cells are then used to strengthen Lily. Relationships Parents: Drucilla Winters (mother) Neil Winters (legal father) Malcolm Winters (biological father) Siblings: Devon Hamilton (brother, via adoption) Children: Unnamed Child (unknown sex, with Cane Ashby, deceased) Charlie Ashby (son, with Cane Ashby) Matilda Ashby (with Cane Ashby) Category:The Young and the Restless characters Category:Fictional African-Americans Category:Fictional models